Mercedes Drive Thru

This is one of Mercedes weirder publicity events. They’ve actually made a drive thru restaurant in a hotel in London! This is part of the The Avant/Garde Diaries campaign in which Mercedes promotes their new small cars in a trendy and memorable way. The festival is being curated by leading food artists Sam Bompas and Harry Parr. The British duo is designing a temporary, driveable restaurant – the MERCEDES DRIVE THRU – in the lobby of the old Selfridges Hotel on Oxford Street (Mayfair). Not sure is all this effort is actually worth it and will return the investment. In the MERCEDES DRIVE THRU, guests drive along the marbled floor of the old building in the car and place their food order – accompanied by a spectacular light show – after which their meal will be served direct to the car by roller-skating service staff. Like we said, weird! Mercedes press release: Setting the artistic stage for the new A-Class A particular highlight in the restaurant will be the artistic staging of the new A-Class, which is available to order now in the UK. With an installation comprising constantly moving sources of light, Bompas & Parr and the interaction designers of the Jason Bruges Studio will be showing off the dynamic design of the new compact Mercedes sports model to impressive effect. “With its highly-emotional and progressive design, the new A-Class is all set to bring the trend towards monotony in the compact car segment to an end. This new pulse in the field of mobility is represented to impressive effect by the light performance,” according to Anders Sundt Jensen, Head of Brand Communication for Mercedes-Benz Cars. “Visitors will be motivated to discover new things, which is precisely the goal of the Avant/Garde Diaries. In 2011 Mercedes-Benz used the project to establish a creative platform for young target groups to experience and discuss topics relevant to society and our times, such as art, fashion, music, innovations, trends, culture and the motor car. It is all about questioning what exists already and unleashing unimagined synergies.” Avant-garde artists in dialogue with the public At the Avant/Garde Diaries festivals, which are being staged in a variety of the world’s major cities, international artists and trendsetters come together under the curatorship of a visionary, to present their view of today’s and tomorrow’s world and exchange views with experts and the public. In July 2011, fashion designer Raf Simons curated the kick-off event in Berlin. Artists such as Peter Saville, Konstantin Grcic and DJ Hell accompanied the festival both artistically and musically. This so-called “transmission” series continued in the spring of 2012 under the curatorship of Mike D, co-founder of hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, at The Geffen Contemporary at the MoCA in Los Angeles. International artists and musicians such as Santigold, Tom Sachs, James Murphy, Ben Jones and Diplo participated in the 17-day event, which attracted more than 30,000 visitors. The basis for the festivals is centred around a digital interview magazine, www.theavantgardediaries.com, which presents a series of exceptional people and ideas. The focus of the video interviews is to try to gain an insight into the activities and passions of the players through their own eyes. The result of this approach is a compendium of subjective perspectives, which open up novel ways of thinking and tap into sources of inspiration. So far the model Rico the Zombie, skateboarder Kilian Martin, MoCA director Jeffrey Deitch and cliff diver Orlando Duque have been portrayed. Furthermore, the magazine also carries extensive reports on the festivals taking place throughout the world.